By: Lauren McRae

Trying to lose weight? Sometimes losing weight is just the beginning – keeping it off is another process. While a well-balanced diet and physical activity is helpful, sometimes it just isn’t enough. Managing hunger, cravings and getting back on track are some of the pitfalls.

The experts at NorthShore, shares how you can successfully combat those pitfalls and keep the weight off:

1. Use the scale as an information tool. Learn to think differently about the number on the scale. If you took your temperature using a thermometer and it was 104 degrees, you would do things differently than if it was 98.6 degrees. We want to learn to do the same thing with the scale. If the number is up, you are getting feedback that you have to watch your diet more closely and increase your activity patterns to bring your weight down.
2. Stop fooling yourself! If you view every birthday party, vacation, wedding, holiday and baby shower as a time to “indulge” it makes losing weight and keeping it off very difficult, if not impossible. Decide which events are most important and limit yourself to a few hundred extra calories for those occasions.
3. Limit dietary variety. Try to eat roughly the same number of calories from day to day. Consider a few different options for breakfast and lunch and a few more than that for dinner. Research shows successful weight maintainers actually have limited dietary variety.
4. Get support. Lack of motivation, accountability and support are reasons why we have trouble staying the course. Consider asking a friend to go walking with you regularly. Elicit the support of a professional who can help you problem-solve common roadblocks. Find someone who has been successful with weight loss and ask him or her to be your diet coach.
5. Weigh yourself regularly. Self-weighing is a consistent predictor of weight loss and maintenance in the literature. Weigh yourself at least once per week and consider weighing yourself more frequently when you reach weight maintenance.